Any advice on towing on ice and snow, and there will be mountains along the way.
I will probably be making a couple trips to Alaska from Ohio before winter is over, one trip with a 26' enclosed car hauler and one with a 33' 5th wheel. I have made the trip several times before but never with trailers this heavy/big. Also if I have to Chain up, should I have one for a trailer wheel for better control or not? Thanks

 

Let me just say this about that. When you are dealing with snow and particular ice or freezing rain the only thing that will have a chance of working is iron, if the conditions are bad enough. I would not pull a trailer without at least one drag chain and preferably 2 or more. It helps to have a front chain or a pair even on the front of a 2 wheel drive. You will have much better traction in icy conditions if it is lower temp as opposed to right near freezing.

I do have some experience as I used to drive fire truck in very steep terrain when we had snow and ice conditions. I also drive class 8 semi. It has been a couple years but I have pulled doubles over Hood (hwy 26) Pulling loaded A train (40/22) and put on 8 chains. I try not work in the winter so I don't have to lay out in the snow. I did tell myself in '72 when I knew I was being hired by the Fire Bureau I would NEVER chain out in the snow again. Not sure how I let my boss talk me into it.

 

set the trailer brake controller a little lower than you would on dry ground. if it's really nasty out i'll chain up 4 corners on the pickup and atleast one axle on the trailer. but remember, 40MPH is as fast as you want to go with chains.

 

Thanks guys

 

Oregon requires chains on at least one axle of trailer if chains are required on the tow vehicle.

 

^^ that's probably more of a commercial regulation.

 

They WILL stop personal rigs from crossing Hood if you don't have proper chains and know how to use them. Been there, saw it done and went through myself. Had roadblocks and talked to every driver. I was just about the only personal rig that was not in the chain up area putting them on. AFAIK there are not roadblocks all the time but it has been done.

 

Having pulled a bumper pull rv to Fairbanks in the winter with a 2wd dully you want to have 2 sets of chains for your truck and 2 sets for your trailer. We used chains on the truck and cables on the trailer and like mentioned above back off the trailer brake and slow down. In northern Canada and the Yukon be very aware of the warning signs and max speed on corners when that say 35 max speed on a corner they are NOT fooling around and it would be better to do 30. be prepared for very cold -20 temps carry anti gel keep you ice scraper handy to take the ice of the inside of your windows. Replace tranny fluid, power steering and rear end with synthetic. Take a camrea with a huge memory as northern Canada, Yukon and Alaska is beautiful in the winter, and watch out for wild life. The longest I had to drive with chains was 700 miles. Most of the road is now paved but is can still be rough in places.